Manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery on flat knitting machines



Nov. 9, 1937. J. 5. CHIPMAN 2,993,739

MANUFACTURE OF FULL-FASEIONED HOSIEHY 0N FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 21, 1957 Figi' INVENTOR BY QM #251412 Patented Nov. 9, 1937 UNITED, STATES MANUFACTURE OF FULL-FASHIONED HO- SIERY ON FLAT KNIT'ITIN G MACHINES John S. Chipman, Easton, Pa., assignor to Chipman Knitting Mills, a corporation of Pennsyl- Vania Application January 21, 1937, Serial No. 121,490

4 Claims.

Thepresent invention relates to improvements in the manufacture offull-fashioned hosiery on fiat knitting machines, and more particularly to a novel and improved knockover'element motion 5 which is well adapted for use in machines of this description, to produce a relatively shorter and tighter inner selvage loop formed by a reinforcing. or splicing yarn in the knitting of reinforced portions of the st'ockingblank.

In the knitting of fabric on fiat full-fashioned type machines, as well known in this art, the loops forming the selvage edges tend to be somewhat more loosely knitted than the loops forming the body fabric wales. This condition results from the fact that the yarn extending from the feeding carrier when reversal takes place, is anchored in the fabric, which is at this time located considerably below the bottom""1ine of the 'sinkers, so that a somewhat greater amount of yarn is utilized in the formation of the first or selvage loop than that measured against the needles knitting the body portion of the fabric by the subsequent operation of the sinkers. While in the knitting of ordinary' fabric, the somewhat looser selvage loops formed as above described, are probably of advantage to prevent the formation of an excessively tight and nonelastic selvage, it has been found that inner selvage edges formed in this manner by supplemental or reinforcing yarns, being somewhat looser than the loops formed by the main knitting yarnon which they are superimposed, serve no useful purpose, and may in face tend to detract from the appearance of the finished stock- 35 ing. While in the knitting of ordinary hosiery, splicing or reinforcing threads appear on the inside of the finished stocking, and are, therefore, to a certain extent concealed, it has been found in the knitting of finer grades of fullfashioned hosiery on fine gauge machines, that the presence of the relatively uneven demarcation line thus formed, is very noticeable. Particularly in the knitting of what is known an insideout hosiery, that is, hosiery in which the normal face of the stocking is worn outside, and in which the reinforcing threads may appear on the outside of the finished stocking, the presence 'of a loose thread forming the inner selvage loops tends to give a'slipshod, sleazy appearance to the entire stocking. p 1

In accordance with the present invention, it is proposed to relatively shorten the loops of reinforcing yarn forming the inner selvage edges of the reinforced portions of the stocking, so that a firm, straight appearing selvage edge of the reinforcing yarn is secured which is tightly knitted into the body of the stocking to produce a clean cut and not too conspicuous line of demarcation between the reinforced and adjacent non-reinforced portions of the stocking.

Further in accordance with the present inven tion, to produce the tight inner selvages above described, applicant has provided a novel and improved knockover element motion which is constructed and arranged to raise the knockover elements from the normal knockover position to a point closely adjacent the under side .of the a part of the needle loop kinked against the I needle by the subsequent advance of the adjoining divider, is relatively shortened, to insure the formation of a tight selvage edge.

The several features of the invention consist also in the devices, combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed which together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will be readily, understood by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a full-fashioned knitting machine illustrating particularly applicant's improved knockover element motion, only so much of the machine being disclosed as is believed necessary to show the connection of the present invention therewith; Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view showing the position of the needles, webholders, sinkers and dividers at the completion of the yarn measuring operation,"-but prior to the advance of the dividers; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the knockover elements in the raised position and with the dividers advancing to remeasure the yarn; and Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing a. fragment of knitted fabric'to of the machine. Supported on the head rail,

is the usual sinker bed 20. The knittingifistrumentalities of the machine meme spring beard shown) which may be of any ordinary description well known in this art.

The machine is provided with the usual yarn feeding and controlling devices including carriers such as those shown at- 40 and" in Fig.

2, supported to move lengthwise of the machine for laying yarn along the needle series in position to be engaged in the throats of the sinkers 28. As shown in Fig. 2, the carrier" is feeding a main knitting yarn to the needles while the carrier 42 is utilized for feeding a'reinforclng yarn over a portion only of the needle series. The yarn associated with each yarn carrier is drawn from a source of supply (not shown), passing around suitable guiding, tensioning-and take-up devices which may be of ordinary description,

to the yarn carriers 40 and 42.

The knockover elements 32 as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, are rigidly supportedon a knockover element bar 50 secured to a frame 52 which is supported to slide vertically in guideways .formed on the front face of thehead rail 14.

The position of the rock shaft 55 is controlled by means of a knockover bitv cam lever 55 secured thereto, and having mounted thereon a cam roller 50 which is laterally shiftable on pivot pin v 52 to ride alternatively against the regular knockover bit cam 54, or a special knockover'bit cam 86 more fully to be described, rigidly secured adjacent the cam 64 on the main cam shaft 34.-

The frame 52 is maintained at all times in engaging contact with the supporting levers 54 by means of small tension springs such as that indicated at 58 connected between the frame and the supporting levers, The cam lever 55 and roller 60 are tensioned downwardly-against the cam 64 or 66 by means of a heavy tension spring I0 connected to the forward end of the cam lever, this downward movement being limited by the engagement of an arm 12 on the lever with a shaft I4 on which the forward and back needle motion cam lever is fulcrumed. The roller 60 may be shifted to render either of the cains 54 or 66 operative to control the operation of the knockover bits through mechanism of ordinary description comprising a shifting fork 16 which engages the roller 50, andissecured to a longitudinally movable shift rod 15 extending lengthchine as desired.

It is the usual practice in machines of this description, to maintain the knockover elements and fabric supported thereon normally in a relatively low position to avoid catching the noses of the advancing sinkers in the previously knitted fabric, and thereafter to raise the knockover bits to a point-immediately beneath the sinkers only as the needles are moved forwardly and down from the press position to draw the newly kinked yarnofi of the noses of the sinkers 28 and dividers 30, so that the distance through which the kinks must be moved unsupported between the sinker noses and the knockover elements, is reduced to a minimum. The knockover bit cam 64 has formed thereon a rise indicated in dotted lines at 84 which acts against the cam roller 60 to raise and to maintain the knockover bits in their extreme high position as the newly formed kinks of yarn are drawn off the sinker noses during the movement of the needles to the knockover.

In accordance with a principal feature of the .present invention, a special knockover bit cam 66 is provided which is rendered operative to control the operation of the knockover bits by the shifting of the roller 60, and is intended for use particularly during the knitting of partial courses with a reinforcing or splicing yarn. The special knockover bit cam has-formed thereon a rise 88 which acts against the cam roller 60 to raise the knockover bits 32 to their high position at an earlier stage in the knitting cycle than would normally be the case, that is to say, after the sinkers 28 have been advanced, but prior to the advance of the alternating dividers 38. The previously knitted fabric is now sup ported, as best shown in Fig. 3, at a level which is closely adjacent the under face of the sinkers, but still leaves a suflicient amount of clearance between the sinkers and knockover bits to prevent interference of the dividers with the fabric which is held down at this time by the fully advanced sinkers. The dividers are new advanced to re-measure the yarn against the needle shanks as shown in Fig. 3, and the needles following their usual mode of operation, are moved rearwardly and down to the press, and then forwardly while the sinkers and dividers are retracted to cause the newly formed kinks to be drawn off of the noses of the sinker and divider elements.

The effect of the upward movement of the knockover-bits 32 prior to the advance of the dividers 30, is to effectively reduce the length of the selvage loop formed on the last active needle by the knitting yarn, and thereby to secure a tighter selvage edge than that produced by the normal operation of the cooperating sinker,

' divider, knockover and needle elements in marelation to a needle knitting a left hand selvage on a knitting section. It may be assumed that the sectional views Figs. 2 and 3, illustrate the operation of a needle forming an inner selvage. In accordance with the usual practice, the yarn carrier 42 having moved to the left a suflicient distance to cause the selvage needle 22 to form the selvage loop of the previous course, has now been returned to its extreme limit to the right, and the sinkers 28 have been advanced between alternate needles to measure yarn. The position ofthe parts at this point in the knitting cycle is illustrated in Fig. 2. with the usual construction and mode of operation of'flat full-fashioned knitting machines of this general description, a divider 30 will always be interposed between the the adjacent active needle. a sinker element 25 must always beinterposed between the yarn carrier 42 and the last active or selvage needle 22 to cause the selvage needle to take yarn.

After the sinkers 28 have been advanced to measure the yarn, but before the dividers are advanced, the knockover bits 32 are now raised to the high position shown in Fig. 3, by the engagement of the knockover bit cam roller 60 with the rise 88 of the knockover bit cam 66, thus considerably reducing the distance covered by the length of yarn extending from the fabric to the first active or selvage needle 22, and causing this yarn to be-slacked off. The dividers are now advanced following the usual mode of operation, causing a suflicient amount of yarn to be robbed from the kinks formed by the sinkers, to remeasure and to kink the yarn against the shanks of all the needles. During this re-measuring operation, the divider 30 adjacent the selvage needle, will take up the excess yarn provided by the raising of the knockover bits 32 and fabric supported thereon, before any yarn is robbed from the first active sinker 28 standing between the second and third active needles. The needle yarn kink formed against the first active needle is thus reduced in length by the amount which the fabric has been raised,so that a relatively shorter selvage needle loop is formed than would be the case where the knockover bits 30 are retained in their normal low position shown in Fig. 2. It will, of course, be understood that the raising of the knockover bits 32 as above described, to form an inner selvage edge of a reinforcing yarn, will have no effect upon the length of the 'wale loops formed by the needle 22 upon which the inner selvage reinforcing yarn loops are superimposed, inasmuch as these wale loops of the main feeding yarn are not during the yarn sinking operation directly connected to the fabric, and may therefore be acted uponby the sinkers and dividers in the usual manner. During the subsequent progress of the knitting cycle, the needles are moved downwardly and rearwardly to press, and then forwardly, the sinkers 28 and dividers 30 being simultaneously withdrawn so that the finished yarn kink may be drawn off of the sinker noses onto the knockover elements which are maintained in their high position so that this operation may be performed in the usual manner.

A principal advantage of the relatively shorter inner selvage wale loops of reinforcing yarn produced as above described, consists in the fact that these loops, and more particularly the yarn forming the outer or connecting leg of the selvage, is drawn tightly into the body of the fabric instead of being loosely knitted therein as would normally be the case, so that the reinforcing yarn will present an inner selvage edge which is neat in appearance even when these loops appear on the outside of the fabric as, for instance, in the knitting of inside-out hosiery. The formation of the inner selvage loops in the manner above described, has the further advantage that a straight, finely drawn line of demarcation is secured between the reinforced and adjacent nonreinforced portions of the blank which tends to improve the appearance of the reinforced portions of the blank, even when the reinforcing threads appear on the outside of the fabric.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment shown, and that various deviations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a. fiat knitting machine having needles movable as a unit with relation to a press edge, independently movable yarn measuring sinkers to which the yarn is fed and dividers, the combination of knockover elements cooperating therewith, and a knockover bit motion including a cam operable to raise the knockover bits from a low position to a point closely adjacent the under side of the sinkers subsequent to the advance of the sinkers to sink yarn and prior to the advance of the dividers to reform the yarn kinks against the shanks of all the needles.

2. In a flat knitting machine having needles movable as a unit with relation to a press edge, independently movable yarn measuring sinkers to which the yarn is fed and dividers, the combination of knockover elements cooperating therewith, and a knockover bit motion including a knockover bit cam adapted for raising the knockover bits from a low yarn sinking position only to receive and to knock over the newly formed course of yarn, an additional knockover bit cam operable to raise the knockover bits from their low to their high position subsequent to the yarn sinking and prior to the dividing operation,'.and control means shiftable to connect one or the other of said cams to move the knockover bits.

3. In a fiat knitting machine having needles movable as a unit with relation to a press edge, independently movable yarn measuring sinkers to which the yarn is fed and dividers, the combination of knockover elements cooperating therewith, and a knockover bit motion including a. knockover bit cam adapted for raising the knockover bits from a low yarn sinking position only to receive and to knock over the newly formed course of yarn, an additional knockover bit cam operable to raise the knockover bits from their low to their high position subsequent to the yarn sinking and prior to the dividing operation, a cam lever, a cam follower, and a control element for shifting said follower to engage alternatively with one or the other of said cams.

4. The method of knitting inner selvage edges with a reinforcing yarn on a flat knitting machine having needles movable as a unit, independently movable yarn measuring sinkers, dividers and knockover bits which comprises advancing the sinkers to measure yarn, raising the knockover bits and fabric supported thereby to ahigh position adjacent the under side of the sinkers subsequent to the yarn sinking operation to permit the subsequent shortening of the leg of the selvage needle wale loop connected to the previously knitted fabric by the action of the dividers, and thereafter advancing the dividers to re-measure the yarn against the shanks of all the needles.

. JOHN S. CI-IIPMAN. 

